Donggang Stronghold is a large stronghold in the north of Taiyuan City, about 25 kilometers away from Taiyuan.
Although the main force of the garrison has been transferred to the front line to mop up the Eighth Route Army, a reinforced squadron and two companies of the Imperial Association Army are still left in the stronghold.
With the existing strength and firepower of the independent regiment, it can be taken down by dispatching only one reinforced battalion.
But Kong Jie didn't do that.
Attacking large strongholds is a waste of artillery shells and troops!
It's not like a small or medium-sized stronghold where a few isolated turrets and bunkers can be seen. Once they're blown up, they lose the threat.
Large strongholds are lined with gun towers, machine gun bunkers are everywhere, and there are many hidden bunkers that are difficult to guard against.
During the artillery bombardment, if a few bunkers were missed, the Japanese's fierce and fearless fighting style could casually cause more than a hundred casualties to the independent regiment.
For the current independent regiment, military strength is more important than anything else. If they want to break through smoothly, one less person will die in Taiyuan.
Based on these factors, Kong Jie decided to abandon these large strongholds and county towns that were not worth the gain, and only sent cavalry to block them and prevent them from delivering news outside the city to Taiyuan.
Three cavalry suddenly appeared at the Donggang stronghold facing the direction of Taiyuan.
Under the darkness of night, the Japanese in the stronghold could not see their presence at all.
More than ten minutes later, the telephone line connecting the Donggang stronghold to Taiyuan was cut off.
When the main force of the garrison was transferred away, the radio station equipped in the stronghold was also taken away by the battalion leader. The telephone became the only way for the Donggang stronghold to contact Taiyuan.
The line was suddenly interrupted, and the squadron leader who stayed at the stronghold was the first to panic.
"The telephone soldier will go out to check the line immediately. Our telephone contact with Taiyuan must not be interrupted!"
"All the remaining troops have entered the position and are ready for battle. Cutting off the phone lines may be a signal for the Eighth Route Army to raid the Donggang stronghold. We have to guard against it!"
The quiet Donggang stronghold instantly became lively.
The sound of alarms kept echoing over the stronghold. For many days, the puppet troops did not even wear military uniforms and rushed outside the barracks with guns in hand...
After a while, various numbers of Japanese and puppet troops entered various bunkers and gun towers in the stronghold. They mounted rifles and stared outside from the shooting holes, quietly waiting for the arrival of the enemy.
"Papa..."
Two gunshots suddenly rang outside, at least 800 meters away from the stronghold. The squadron leader frowned at the same time, opened his mouth and cursed.
"Baga, something must have happened to the phone soldier checking the phone line!"
"Everyone, get ready for battle...the Eighth Route Army attacking us is about to appear!"
Dozens of Japanese soldiers guarding the central turret immediately pulled the bolts of the light and heavy machine guns and were ready to shoot... As soon as an enemy appeared within the crosshairs, they immediately pulled the trigger...
Five minutes passed... not even a single figure was seen outside the stronghold...
Ten minutes have passed, and the Eighth Route Army that everyone was worried about still hasn’t appeared...
The squadron leader was confused and asked with a confused look on his face: "Is it possible that the Eighth Route Army just wants to cut off the connection between us and Taiyuan and does not intend to attack us?"
"But if they didn't attack us, why did they cut off the telephone contact between us and Taiyuan?"
The squadron leader couldn't understand.
"Pap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap..."
At this moment, harsh gunshots rang out again outside the stronghold, which was also far away and exceeded the effective range of the stronghold's light machine gun.
"Baga, aren't there any of our troops outside? Why are the guns still firing!" the squadron leader asked with a frown.
"Captain, now is the time for the intelligence personnel to send us information... They should have had an accident!" The vice-captain thought for a moment and explained!
"Nani?" When the squadron leader heard this, he didn't connect several things together.
After frowning and thinking for two minutes, he suddenly punched the table in front of him and suddenly realized: "I know why the Eighth Route Army cut off the phone line!"
"They want to blockade the Donggang stronghold and prevent intelligence personnel from transmitting intelligence to Taiyuan through us..."
"What a cunning opponent. Without intelligence support, Your Majesty the Commander will become blind and deaf, unable to command the troops to destroy the Eighth Route Army!"
"Then what should we do now?" The deputy captain's mind was in a mess and he had no clue as he stared at the squadron leader and asked.
"There is no way to break the situation!" the squadron leader replied helplessly.
"No one knows how many Eighth Route Army troops are lurking outside the stronghold. If you send people out rashly, they may not come back!"
"The outer city of Taiyuan was also captured by the Eighth Route Army. We can only contact the military headquarters through the radio, but we don't have a radio... we can only hold on to the strongholds and pray that those strongholds equipped with radios can report the news from outside to the Commander."
Taiyuan Japanese Military Headquarters, Yoshio Shinozuka has determined that the independent regiment will begin to relocate the arsenal.
This is great news.
As long as the Independent Regiment does not blow up the arsenal, no matter how much equipment they remove now, it will be returned intact in a few days.
"Commander, the observation post reported... The independent regiment raised a large number of cars and rushed to the arsenal to transport equipment... Ten cars of equipment have been transported..." The chief of staff immediately told the latest intelligence he had received.
A rare smile appeared on Yoshio Shinozuka's lips, and he happily replied: "Let the observation post continue to keep a close eye on the arsenal!"
"Those equipment are also related to the future of the Shanxi garrison. We must find out where they are going, and there can be no accidents!"
"Where are the return troops...it still needs more time to move in place!"
The chief of staff reported in an orderly manner: "After continuous march...the fastest brigade still has ten hours to arrive at the target position and establish a defense line..."
"The slowest group takes sixteen hours to reach its destination!"
"But two brigades had accidents on the way back to support!"
Yoshio Shinozuka immediately frowned. He only wanted to save the equipment in the Taiyuan Arsenal, and everything else had to be put aside.
I became anxious when I heard that an accident happened to the returning troops. I asked anxiously: "What accident!"
"In order to seize all time to march, the two brigades had to pass through the defense area of the 358th Regiment of the Shanxi-Sui Army!"
"According to past experience, when we fight with the Eighth Route Army, they will sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight. They hope that both us and the Eighth Route Army will suffer losses, so that they can reap the benefits..."
"As a result, the two brigades were blocked on the road when they passed the defense area of the 358th Regiment..."
"In order not to waste time, our troops can only take the initiative to attack and advance all the way!"
"It is estimated that they will arrive at the target position two hours late, and each will lose one and a half squadrons of troops!"
Yoshio Shinozuka frowned more and more as he listened, and asked, "Have there been any changes in other Jinsui troops?"
The chief of staff shook his head and replied: "Except for the 358th Regiment, the rest of the Jinsui Army continues to sit on the mountain and watch the fight between tigers and tigers!"
Shinozuka Yoshio breathed a sigh of relief and said: "I thought the Jinsui Army's strategy against us has changed... The other Jinsui Army units stayed still, which shows that the Jinsui Army does not want to anger us!"
"As for the 358th Regiment... write this down first, wait until we kill the Independent Regiment and rebuild the arsenal, then we can clean it up!"
"We must make the 358th Regiment pay the price for provoking the Imperial Army, and make the other Jinsui Army dare not provoke us again!"
"The commander is wise...I will definitely remember the 358th Regiment!"
Yoshio Shinozuka continued to ask: "Besides relocating the Taiyuan Arsenal and sealing off the inner city of Taiyuan, is there any other movement in the Independent Regiment!"
"I haven't heard any information from outside the city for a long time!"
Speaking of this matter, the chief of staff's face instantly turned ugly: "Your Excellency, Commander, there was an accident outside the city!"
"The military's telephone lines connecting strongholds outside the city with the county seat have all been cut off. We can only contact a few large strongholds with the county seat through radio stations!"
"They reported that a large number of Eighth Route Army cavalry suddenly appeared around the stronghold and the county seat, and the phone lines were cut off by them!"
The cavalry also blocked all county towns and strongholds, and no one was allowed to enter or exit! "
"Our intelligence personnel monitoring the Independent Regiment cannot send the news to the county and strongholds, and they cannot transmit it to the military headquarters through the radio..."
"From dark until now, the military headquarters has not received a single piece of intelligence from outside the city, let alone the movements of the independent regiment outside the city!"
"But we believe that the impact of the independent regiment outside the city on the battle situation will be very small."
"The independent regiment has a total of four main battalions. Two battalions blockade the inner city, one battalion relocates the arsenal, and a part of the force is also allocated to defend Jinzhong. The mobile troops that can be mobilized outside the city will not exceed one battalion, and the combat effectiveness is very limited."
"Otherwise, they will definitely wait for work and directly attack the large stronghold outside the city instead of sending cavalry to block the stronghold!"
"What a powerful opponent!" Yoshio Shinozuka sighed after hearing this, with a very heavy expression.
He stared at the chief of staff and cursed with a hateful expression: "What do you know?"
"Without those strongholds and county towns passing information to us, the military headquarters would be blind and deaf, and how could they pursue and intercept the independent regiment!"
"Fortunately, there is only one road for them to retreat to the base area, otherwise this move alone would have turned us around!"
"No... Our opponents are too cunning. The military department must not turn a blind eye. We must do everything possible to find out their specific movements, otherwise we will suffer big losses in the next actions!"
"We have suffered enough losses in this large-scale sweep. If the returning troops also suffer heavy losses in the pursuit and interception, even if the military equipment stolen by the independent regiment is recaptured, I will not be able to give an explanation to the front army headquarters!"
"The staff department immediately formulated a plan to find a way to send several radio stations to the intelligence personnel operating outside the city. Bypassing the strongholds outside the city and the county seat, they directly contacted the military headquarters and reported the latest intelligence they discovered anytime and anywhere!"
The chief of staff frowned and thought for a long time before saying: "Commander, think twice..."
"We are trapped in the inner city of Taiyuan, and it is almost impossible to escape!"
"The strongholds equipped with radio stations outside the city and the county seat all have limited troops. If we attack rashly, we will definitely end up with no return!"
"Sending radio stations to intelligence agents at this time is a very good price!"
Yoshio Shinozuka insisted on his decision: "No matter how high the price is, it will not be as high as the heavy damage to the returning troops... Execute the order!"
